


bastard thinks he's gonna out-romance me

by stellarfluid



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Valentine's Day, arthur and mary-beth are mlm/wlw solidarity icons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 03:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarfluid/pseuds/stellarfluid
Summary: “Bastard’s trying to prove he can out-romance me by giving me the best Valentine’s Day ever.”“Why is everything always a competition with you two?”“Competition implies he gets to win. Can you help me pick out a wedding ring?”Arthur and Charles are in a little competition to see who can be the more romantic of the two. What happens when Arthur decides to propose on Valentine's Day?





	bastard thinks he's gonna out-romance me

**Author's Note:**

> prompt by the-modern-typewriter on tumblr!
> 
> this is my first (published) rdr fic! its self indulgent as hell cuz im writing FOR MYSELF this year and it doesnt really have rdr vibes At All but you know! its a nice little short thing. it probably sucks! idc.
> 
> i started writing this on valentine's day knowing damn well it takes me 5000 years to finish even the shortest fics. im a busy gal --- and im SUPER adhd, so very little attention span! so its 3 days late lol.
> 
> also. MARY-BETH AND TILLY R A CUTE COUPLE AND R TOGETHER IN THIS FIC. THEYRE HERE AND THEYRE DATING AND IM A LESBIAN AND I LOVE THEM THANKS!!
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy! :D

Arthur had never really thought of himself as a romantic; well, maybe once, a long time ago, before his heart was broken and his self-esteem dragged through the mud and he swore--- he swore---

He swore he would never fall in love again. As he woke up in his boyfriend’s arms, he knew he had failed. 

They were in his bed, blankets and sheets tossed around but bundled around their arms. Despite the fact that they had been waking up like this for quite some time now, Arthur couldn’t help to be happy and surprised that someone had finally loved him this much. Surprised that it was  _ Charles _ \--- that he was the one blessed enough to be the receiver of Charles’ love as if he deserved it.

Charles' arms were warm, a safe haven, and Arthur sighed as Charles combed his fingers through the hair on the back of Arthur’s head. It was one of those winter mornings where the sunshine made it look like it should be nice outside; the sunlight trickled into the room giving it a warm, hazy feeling as he laid there, in Charles’ arms, like there was nowhere better in the world to be. 

He really, really loved Charles. It was, frankly, unbelievable. Charles was just…  _ God,  _ Arthur didn’t even  _ know.  _ He had never been that good at the whole “feelings” thing; he had quite the trouble finding any way to express how much Charles really, truly meant him. He didn’t think there was any way he truly  _ could.  _

He tried his damn best, though, and, well… he became a  _ romantic.  _ He had never in his life thought he would be that guy, but Charles had really turned him into a cheesy, lovestruck, romantic fool. 

Arthur yawned into Charles’ chest and tilted his head back to look at Charles’ face. Charles’ hands slipped down to the base of Arthur’s neck. “‘Morning,” he said, his voice and smile soft.

“Mm, ‘mornin’,” Arthur smiled back. He turned his head to look at the window, the light pouring through the cracks in the blinds, and sighed, asking “What time is it?” He started to move, to get out of bed, in case he had overslept --- he had somewhere he needed to be today.

Charles grabbed Arthur by the waist and tugged, trying to bring Arthur back into his embrace. “It’s still early,” he said. “Let’s stay here a bit. It’s nice.”

Arthur snorted and sank back down, wrapping his arms around Charles' shoulders. “Okay,” he said, burying his head into the crook of Charles’ neck. “You’re right,” he said, muffled, and Charles chucked softly in response. The stayed like that for a moment in a comfortable silence, laying in the warmth of the bed and the sunlight and each other’s bodies. 

“Guess what’s coming up soon?” Charles said after a bit, ruffling the hair on the back of Arthur’s neck affectionately. 

Arthur knew. Oh, Arthur knew.

“Valentine’s Day is in, what, a week?” he asked, tilting his head back 

“Mhm,” Charles grinned back. “You best be ready.”

“Oh?”

“Mmhm,” Charles hummed again in response.

Not only were Arthur and Charles romantics; they were also that type of couple that would argue over who loved who more --- and every birthday, anniversary and/or Valentine’s day, they ALWAYS had to one-up one another. 

“Oh, you think you’re gonna out-romance me, now, do you?” Arthur said, laughing. Charles laughed too.

“Well, when you put it that way…”

Arthur had an idea about what he was going to do for Charles on Valentine’s Day, but he needed a second opinion; he was going out for coffee with Mary-Beth later in the morning to get her help. She had always eaten up all that romance shit, long before Arthur had the need to be interested in it all --- Arthur knew she would be helpful.

But he could think about that later.

“Well,” he said, “we’ll see what happens.” He smiled.

Charles hummed again, the sound was lost as Arthur pressed a kiss to his lips. 

“I love you,” Arthur said softly, kissing him again.

“I love you too,” Charles mumbled, putting a hand to Arthur’s cheek.

Their little competition was put on hold; there was nothing but a tender sincerity between them now. They kissed for a bit, softly pressing into each other, then laid there a bit longer with tangled limbs and even more disrupted blankets. It was quite a while before Arthur was finally able to drag himself out of bed.

* * *

 

Despite having woke up on time, Arthur got out of their apartment later than he should have and was 5 minutes late for his meeting with Mary-Beth. As he pulled his car into the parking lot he got a text from her reading  _ Bitch!  _ quickly followed by a  _ Where r u?!?  _ He snorted at his phone as he took his keys from the ignition.

_ I just got here, _ he texted back,  _ sorry _

_ I already got us a table!  _ Mary-Beth replied.  _ Hurry it up! _

Arthur chuckled as he got out of his car, knowing damn well she was sitting at that table giggling at her phone because she always giggled nonstop when pretending to be mad at someone over text.

He entered the diner and found her sitting in a small booth near the wall. He waved at her as he made his way over, and she grinned and he took a seat across from her. 

“Good morning,” she chirped, holding her phone clasped between her hands in front of her.

“Hey,” Arthur said with a smile. 

Arthur loved Mary-Beth so  _ fucking _ much. For the longest time, they had been the closest of friends; before Arthur had anyone else, Mary-Beth was the one who he could talk to, who he could be with, an anchoring sense of consistency that also had the strange power to make Arthur’s world seem that much better. He really didn’t know where he’d be without her. 

Well, not here, obviously.

Their conversations always seemed to start the same way: they would start with catching each other up, filling each other in with small events that had happened since they had last seen each other, occasionally talking about what they were writing, and the like. Eventually, the conversation would go God-knows-where as they talked about God-knows-what, laughing and grinning like fools. At this point in time, Mary-Beth was telling a story about something that happened to her and her girlfriend.

As soon as she finished, Arthur knew he had the perfect opportunity to ask her his question.

“Are you and Tilly doin’ anythin’ for Valentine’s day?” 

Mary-Beth nodded, beaming. “We’re simple ladies,” she said. “We’re just goin’ out for dinner n’ watchin’ a movie together.” Then her expression changed, moving from her bright smile to a mischievous grin. “I expect,” she said, “that you and Charles have some big plans in mind?”

Arthur scoffed. “Bastard’s tryna prove he can out-romance me,” he said.

“Why does it always have to be a competition with you two?” Her voice was devoid of any sort of judgement; just amusement. 

“Competition implies he gets to win. Can you help me pick out a wedding ring?”

Needless to say, the look that crossed her face then was priceless.

* * *

 

Charles and Arthur had this unspoken rule: if they were going to fight over who loved who more, it had to wait until later in the day. In the haziness of the morning, they were both still too genuinely enraptured with one another, too distracted with each other to even think about their dumb little argument.

Arthur guessed it showed how truly meaningless their fight really was; that they could show how much they really loved each other without it. He wasn’t about to give up on it, though --- not until he won.

On Valentine’s Day, Arthur did get up first to make breakfast --- and it really had nothing to do with their competition, it was just that he felt a bit too jittery to stay in bed --- smiling as Charles came into their kitchen not much later and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You were up quick,” he said.

Arthur let out a breathy laugh, trying to push the thrall of his nerves to the back of his mind. “Yeah,” he said softly, before turning to give Charles a proper kiss. 

He finished cooking and dished the food out onto plates, and the two sat down to eat, hands interlaced as they enjoyed that familiar, comfortable silence.

“Mary-Beth wants us to meet up with her and Tilly for a bit before we go to dinner,” Arthur said before too long. “In the little park across from where all the restaurants are? Wants some pictures or somethin’.”

“That’s fine,” Charles said, smiling. Arthur took a deep breath.

_ Okay,  _ he thought,  _ this is gonna happen. Okay. _

* * *

Mary-Beth looked so damn excited when she saw Arthur and Charles. And she was beautiful too, wearing a red dress with matching lipstick and a leather jacket, her brown curls falling over her shoulders. Tilly looked absolutely stunning too, wearing a white dress and pink eye-shadow that made her brown eyes look deeper, darker. The knowing smile she gave Arthur as Mary-Beth threw her arms around him let him know that she was in on what was about to happen. Then, she walked over to Charles and began to converse with him, and Arthur knew it was her trying to give him and Mary-Beth a chance for a last minute discussion and  _ maybe _ a pep talk.

Arthur’s hands shook as Mary-Beth pulled from her hug to look at him, then Charles, then back at him. Charles, of course, looked--- well. He looked perfect. Unbelievable. Beautiful. Stunning. Breathtaking. So much more than Arthur could ever have dreamed of.

“Are you ready?” Mary-Beth asked, knowing damn well what the answer was going to be.

“No,” Arthur said anyway. Mary-Beth tilted her head.

“He's not going to say no,” she reassured. Arthur laughed, almost hysterically.

“He might,” he said, and Mary-Beth rolled her eyes. 

Now that he was about to…  _ you know _ , he feared he was moving in too fast. He and Charles had been together for so long that Arthur had just about forgotten about his deep, unrelenting fear of rejection, of abandonment, that maybe, just maybe, Charles didn’t love him as much as he thought. 

But now he had wrapped Mary-Beth and Tilly into it, and there was no way in hell he would be able to back down now.

_ Dammit, _ he thought.

“Hey, Arthur, it's alright!” she said cheerfully. “Take a deep breath, it'll be fine!” Arthur did so, closing his eyes. 

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?” Mary-Beth asked.

“Okay.” 

It wasn't until Mary-Beth began chanting “do it, do it, do it!” that Arthur forced himself to move away from her, planting his hands in his pockets to hide that they were shaking. He took another breath and called Charles over, trying to act as normal as he could despite fact he could barely breathe and felt like he was going into cardiac arrest. 

Tilly left Charles’ side to go over to Mary-Beth, giving Arthur a comforting squeeze on the shoulder.

Charles raised an eyebrow at Arthur as he approached, giving Arthur a look that translated to  _ oh, we're doing THIS now _ ; “this” as in in their little competition. As in, he knew Arthur was about to something cheesy and/or romantic.

Either he didn't notice that Arthur was far more nervous now than he had been like, God, like,  _ forever,  _ or he didn't think it was that big of a deal.

“...Charles,” was all Arthur managed to say at first, his hands still in pockets, one closing around the small box housing the ring Mary-Beth helped him pick out. 

“That's what they call me,” Charles said, grinning.

“Yeah,” Arthur said, feeling his heart in his throat. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it to think, then said, “You know how much ya mean to me, right? How much I love---” Charles laughed.

“I know what you're doing,” he said. “Let's see, hm?”

_ Oh fuck,  _ Arthur thought, not sure if he should be more nervous or relieved by this. He guessed it was time. Sucking in one final deep inhale, he held his breath and got down on one knee.

By the look of shock that crossed Charles’ face, he HADN'T known what Arthur was doing.

“Charles Smith,” Arthur said, “will you marry me?”

For a moment, Charles just stared down at Arthur, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, frozen. And then, he laughed.  _ What the hell, _ Arthur thought, feeling is pulse to increase to even higher a speed. Charles was  _ laughing _ .

“What…” Arthur began a question, but trailed off, feeling almost light-headed with nerves and anxiety. Charles put a hand up and tried to catch his breath.

“I---  _ Jesus,”  _ he said, laughing some more, and then moving to pull something out of his own pocket, and---

Now it was Arthur's turn to stare, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. And then HE began to laugh.

Because Charles had just pulled out a ring of his own.

Still laughing, Charles got down on one knee too. “I dunno, Arthur,” he said between laughs, “will YOU marry ME?”

“I--- YEAH, of COURSE I WILL,  _ YOU BASTARD,”  _ Arthur said, and before he knew it he was crying, throwing his arms around Charles as they knelt on the ground in the middle of a public park on Valentine's Day. 

They knelt there, hugging each other tightly, laughing and sobbing and repeating variations of “I love you” back and forth to one another, for a  _ while,  _ before Arthur pulled back and took Charles’ hand so he could slip the ring onto Charles’ finger. Still laughing and in tears, Charles returned the gesture, before pulling Arthur into a kiss. Then they laughed some more before finally standing up. 

_ “Christ,”  _ Arthur said, rubbing his hands on his face to scrub away the tears. “Look at us, proposin’ to each other on Valentine's Day. We really are a pair of lovestruck  _ fools.” _

“I guess we are,” Charles said, laughter still ringing in his voice.

That night before they went to bed, Arthur was sorting through the pictures Mary-Beth had took of them during the proposal. Arthur didn't post on social media often, but he thought that if anything was worth going online, it was one of the pictures.

He found a particularly good one she sent, which showed him and Charles kneeling in the park, hands on each other's faces, a new ring visible on Charles’ finger. He captioned it with the following:

_ “Today, Charles and I finally put our little ‘who can prove he loves the other the most’ feud by proposing to each other at the same time. I guess we realized that neither of us are ever going to really articulate how much we love each other, and that we didn't need to fight over it anymore. We're getting married, boys!” _

He posted the picture on Instagram like that, paused a moment to think, then added a quick extra comment that said,  _ “I do think Charles won the competition though. He proposed, then paid for dinner. Bastard.” _


End file.
